The Invisible Prince
by ClarySage
Summary: a strange fairy tale about nothing other than an invisible prince, or is it? MM,Lime,Shonen-Ai,AU,WAFF,AU,Slash


Title: The Invisible Prince Author: ClarySage Warnings And Disclaimers: I don't own Gundam Wing, at all. And Beware my sense of humour. Pairings: It's a Surprise! ^_^' sort of... Rating: Maybe a soft R? Feedback: Yes Please! Author Notes: THIS IS AN AU! AU! AU!  
  
Most fairy tales start with the traditional "Once upon a time..." This story does not try to differ from the tales of old, it does in fact begin with –  
  
Once upon a time, there lived a king and a queen. They ruled well and seemed to bring happiness to their subjects and lands. They were good people and tried their best to be fair and objective, and though occasionally they would be forced to deal out a punishment of some sort, usually they would keep it mild.  
  
There was a fairy – of course – and for want of a better name to call her, we shall call her Dorothy. Now you would think that Dorothy was perchance punished by the king and queen and so sought out justice at a later date, but in fact Dorothy just liked to play.  
  
The king and queen, unlike most royals in this sort of story, bore many, many children. There was only one problem: they were, every one of them, girls. And though girls are all well and good as far as being pretty princesses, they are not princes. In addition, and as we all know, you need a prince to carry on a royal line.  
  
This is actually not true. A royal line can in fact be carried on with a few choice objects about the household and any number of willing princesses. Of course, the objects would have to be attached to men.  
  
Now this is where the fairy Dorothy comes in. It had happened that the queen's maid one day mentioned that if you left out a bowl of milk and some decent magazines, the fairy Dorothy would grant you a boon. So, the queen did, and Dorothy showed, though she thumbed her nose at the choice of magazines, saying she much preferred "Guns and Ammo" to "Cosmo" any day of the week.  
  
"I'll grant you a wish," Dorothy conceded after she'd wiped away her milk mustache, "but since the magazines were not at all to my preferences you must be ready to grant me whatever I would like in the future." She paused and pondered for a moment, and then nodded her head as if someone had just mentioned a fabulous idea that she should suggest. "You must from now on invite me to every party you throw, including weddings, birthdays, christenings, bar mitzvahs, bat mitzvahs, funerals – if it's a party with food, drink, and dancing, I'd better be there."  
  
The queen of course acceded, though for a moment she had some qualms. "I would bear my king an heir."  
  
"Okay, though personally I find boys a nuisance." And with that, the fairy Dorothy disappeared, though she did take one of the Cosmopolitan magazines, despite her protests of dislike.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Time passed, and before you could blink the queen was with child once again. Roughly nine months went by and, true to the fairy's word, the queen had a boy. The entire kingdom was invited to a grand party where the child would be given a name and introduced around to all. Unfortunately, the queen had forgotten one very important guest, the fairy Dorothy. Of course.  
  
The fairy Dorothy was livid – she was always being forgotten. She'd been all ready to go to the party, even going as far as to leaf through the Cosmo for makeup and hair ideas. She could hear the party start, the cheers of the guests, the shimmering sounds of music. On the breeze past her hidden castle, she could smell the aroma of a hundred delicious foods. She was pissed, and with a swoosh and a pinch of smoke, she appeared rather suddenly at the party, without an invitation.  
  
The king had just held up his son, and was pronouncing in a clear and proud tone the name of the child, when the fairy Dorothy suddenly spoke up in a voice that thundered about the great hall. "Oh-no-you-DON'T!"  
  
All eyes turned to her, a few widening in surprise as they took in her dress, which in fact she'd forgotten to put on and was dangling over one of her arms.  
  
"I would have you forget this child as you've forgotten me. You like to see others as invisible, and so you shall see your prince – until the day that a blind man can see him, you will see him as a blind man would."  
  
Another puff of smoke joined Dorothy in her exit.  
  
Suddenly the queen let out a loud and piercing shriek: for in the king's still out-stretched arms, there was nothing.  
  
Well, obviously there was something, a baby, as was mentioned a few moments ago.  
  
The crowd went quiet as all strained to hear the faintest sound of the child. The king shook the invisible weight in his hands a bit, and the loud crying of a baby filled the hall.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Years passed, as years have a tendency to do, and much as most large increments of time will. The people of the kingdom gradually grew used to their Invisible Prince, learning to always be careful where they stepped, for even if they dressed the prince the clothes would turn invisible as well. They'd tried covering the prince in paint, mud, chalk dust, flour, anything – but no matter what they tried, as soon as it touched the prince it turned as clear as the very air.  
  
They tried perfuming the prince in the hope that they could find him by smell, but they only succeeded in finding out that the prince was allergic to perfumes. On the other hand, his sneezing did make it easier to find him.  
  
Then one man – the prince's tutor to be exact – had a brilliant idea. He'd gotten it from watching the royal cat being belled.  
  
The royal cat liked to slip into the royal gardens, and munch on the royal birds. The queen, annoyed by the bloody royal bird carcasses, had ordered the royal cat to be shackled round the neck with a bell. Later the cat managed to lose the bell and decimate a good percentage of the royal bird population; however, that's a story for another time.  
  
As it was, the prince was belled – a bit more thoughtfully than the cat had been, as the prince never chased birds. A set of small golden bells was put around the prince's neck, and from that moment on – unless the prince managed to slip the bells off – they were able to know where he was at all times. In this way, the prince grew up – almost normally.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
As it happened, a few of the prince's sisters were due to be married off before he was, and so they had some time to search the neighboring lands for kings willing to marry their daughters to an Invisible Prince.  
  
When the prince was seventeen years of age, Amandandia, one of his middle sisters, was set upon by the maids and dressmakers, the etiquette professionals and the haute chic – all of them determined to marry this princess off as fast as they'd managed with the other sisters before her. The prince was as fascinated as ever by the procedure, being sure to slip his bells off so that he could silently watch all that went on.  
  
Eventually (and after watching a little too much fussing with Amandandia's hair) the prince went and stood silently in the great hall beside his parents as potential suitors gathered from all the kingdoms around – and some even from kingdoms far away – to meet, greet, and possibly to woo his sister. Most of them seemed to be average as far as princes went: blond hair and blue eyes, tall and handsome, giving gifts of fine gold jewelry or petite bouquets of foreign flowers, chocolates and perfumes.  
  
The prince soon found himself quite bored and sat down to lounge in his mother's throne, happy that no one could see him do so. Idly he played with his booted toes, knowing they were a rich and royal blue, but unable to see them at the moment. He leaned his head back and eyed the vaulted ceiling far above, listening to the droning on and on of the suitors.  
  
How boring, he thought, couldn't any of them be more original than that? He gnawed his lower lip, hoping the future princesses he'd be shown would not be like the suitors. Then, a discordant note in the hubbub caught his ear, and he turned to gaze down the long line of suitors. There appeared to be a mild argument going on between a prince and his page.  
  
The Invisible Prince slipped from his mother's throne, inching quietly down the red-carpeted line, until he stood beside the bickering pair.  
  
"But I don't want to marry her!" this suitor was whispering fervently. Unlike the other princes, this one was dark of hair and much shorter than the rest, and he also – the Invisible Prince noted – had lovely brilliant blue eyes.  
  
"Well, you don't have a choice now do you?" said the boy who apparently was the prince's companion. "You've refused all the hands of all the princesses around our kingdom, now you've got to travel along and find someone from foreign parts." The boy put his hands on his hips and swayed from side to side a bit – a long braid sweeping along from behind him – and then said, rather cruelly, "It's your own fault, really."  
  
"Hn," said the prince.  
  
"If only you'd married the first one they'd offered, you wouldn't have to be here petitioning for a woman you don't even want."  
  
"Yes, well, you didn't see her, Duo. She was hideous."  
  
"Whatever," Duo waved his hand vaguely, very nearly smacking the Invisible Prince. "So I never saw her, you could've said yes to one of the other fifty they showed you."  
  
The Invisible Prince, curious, stepped a little closer.  
  
"Just remember what Mother said, you're next."  
  
It was at this point that the Invisible Prince realized that the two were brothers. However, they did not resemble one another very much, if at all. The one named Duo, though as short as his brother, had a much lighter hair colour held in a braid that reached the back of his thighs, and his eyes were a strange purple-tinted blue. His face as well little resembled his brother's except perhaps in the brow and cheekbones.  
  
The Invisible Prince – who'd never had a brother but had often been curious – decided he would continue to follow the pair about. After all, it was not every day that a twosome of princeling brothers entered the kingdom.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
At this point in the story, a few things must be explained about our Invisible Prince.  
  
When the fairy Dorothy set her curse upon the prince, she had also cursed him with being ignored.  
  
At first the king and queen always noticed the prince and tried to pay attention to him. However, over the years, gradually, and so little by little that it was hardly noticed, everyone forgot about the prince. They even forgot his name.  
  
Mind you, they knew there was one, just as they remembered he was invisible, but for the life of them, they couldn't seem to recall where he might be, or what he might be doing.  
  
The unfortunate prince couldn't help that he was light-reflective impaired.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The Invisible Prince followed the brothers throughout the day. He watched as the dark haired brother – whom he had found out was called Heero – offered his loyalty and love, and asked for Amandandia's hand in marriage. Of course, the princess was quite bored by that point, seeing as how the thirty previous suitors in line had said much the same thing to her already. Nevertheless, she graciously nodded her head and repeated what she'd told the previous thirty suitors, "I'll consider it."  
  
Indeed none of the princes had expected a different answer just yet. After all, there were balls, feasts, and various party activities lined up for the next few weeks. There would be plenty of time in which to woo the princess and win her heart.  
  
And so, the princeling brothers explored the palace and the grounds around it. There were many gardens, mazes, and a few gazebos scattered artfully here and there. There was even a domed and glittering aviary in which many romantic trysts were concluded like the best of deals often should be.  
  
The Invisible Prince followed the brothers from one end of the day to the other. He was amazed at how well they got along, despite their near- constant bickering. Strangely, for each argument they had, they would always end in agreement. What kept the Invisible Prince's attention most of all, was the younger of the two, Duo.  
  
He always seemed to step gracefully about, as if dancing to an unheard tune that played only within his head. Once in a while, it seemed as if he'd actually heard the Invisible Prince, and those stunning purple-tinted eyes would stare, as if they could almost see him. But the Invisible Prince knew better, for no one had ever been able to see him, not even himself.  
  
He often wondered what he looked like. He could tell his features were even and small, and his eyes were a bit round and large, and he was slim and quite petit. Nevertheless, he'd never known his hair colour or eye colour, nor whether colours like blue suited him for that matter. The prince had never really been bothered by all of this before, except perhaps in a vague way. Yet the more he followed the brothers about, the more he wished he could interact with them without the piercing looks of someone who cannot see you.  
  
Just once, it would be nice to have friends of his own age, and to hold a conversation with someone who was not being paid to stand there and listen for him, such as his tutor had been. The only real conversation the prince had ever had, had been with his cat, when he'd been four. The cat had listened well, and then had climbed into the prince's lap and purred its response. Cats are good like that.  
  
As the prince followed the brothers back to their rooms, he formed a plan. Perhaps he could send a letter inviting them to meet him in a dark place, such as one of the gardens late at night. Then they wouldn't realize he was invisible, and perchance just think it was too dark to see anything. In this way, he could hold a conversation with them and they wouldn't be influenced by his lack of visibility.  
  
There was only one slight flaw to his plan, and that was how to word the letter – or, more appropriately, note. In the end, the prince settled on wording it much as other notes he'd caught sight of, ones that asked for similar meetings. Unknown to the Invisible Prince, the note wound up sounding exactly like one of those invitations to a midnight tryst in the aviary.  
  
It went something like this:  
  
Dear Princes,  
  
I have been following you all day, and have become charmed by your striking etiquette. I have never before met two such as you. Please meet with me tonight in the aviary beneath the twisted tree that grows by the pond.  
  
Yours,  
An Admirer  
  
It should be obvious why this could have been mistaken for a more romantic tryst. So how could the princeling brothers be to blame when they argued, and then sent off Duo to meet the mysterious admirer? After all, Prince Heero *had* just asked for the princess's hand in marriage and it would be unseemly and detrimental to the process of wooing to be caught meeting another woman.  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
Later that night the Invisible Prince waited patiently in the aviary. He'd always liked the aviary best of all the gardens. Barring the occasional bombardment of bird poop, it was quite lovely. It had trees filled with fluttery pink, orange, yellow and white blossoms, and little rolling hillocks of bright green grass shorn short. There were small birds and large birds - though they were very quiet at night, with just the occasional tweet and peep emanating from the sheltering trees. The small pond was dark except for the reflection of the night sky, and the intermittent plop of a fish.  
  
The little bench that the prince was sitting on while he waited was located just under a large, many-branched, and twisting tree. Even if the night had been moonlit and bright, the bench would have remained almost completely blackened by shadows. The prince later felt he should have half expected what happened, considering the factors involved.  
  
A loud shout suddenly split the air right beside the prince's head, followed by a body falling into his lap and a voice he recognized saying, "I'm sorry – bloody!blast!ow!ow! – are you my date?"  
  
The prince squirmed, inhaled, and said, "!"  
  
"Oh, sorry, just let me move over." There was the sound of cloth scraping across stone in the manner that you know means someone has just felt along the bench with their arse before settling in comfortably.  
  
The prince, in the meantime, had managed to regain his equilibrium and find his voice. Few had actually heard it, as most of the time no one realized he was there. The prince was shy and a little reserved by nature, and seemed to have a voice that matched his personality. It was... feminine, to say the least. "Are you Duo?"  
  
"Yes, are you...an, uh, admirer?"  
  
"Yes, I followed you and your brother all day. I've never met a pair of princes who are brothers before. I sometimes wish I had a brother... As it is, I've got an awful lot of sisters...um," the Invisible Prince trailed off as he realized that from what he could see, Duo was staring at him fixedly through the blackness. It was new and exciting to feel seen. He moved slightly to the left and watched as Duo's head turned with the movement. "How...how do you like the garden?"  
  
"It's lovely, though, the ...poop."  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry, did you sit in some?"  
  
"No, just my hand." There was a gentle scraping sound. "But despite that, it really is lovely and smells marvelous, all things considered." There was a pause and then Duo said, "I can't help noticing, but you don't seem to be wearing a dress."  
  
The prince's mouth dropped open in shock before moving wordlessly in an attempt to respond suitably. "Just because I don't have a deep, manly voice!"  
  
"...Excuse me?"  
  
"I'm not suppose to be wearing a dress!" the prince shouted in consternation.  
  
"But, you're a girl, aren't you?"  
  
"Um, no. Though, it is very dark, so I suppose I can see how you made that error." The Invisible Prince hoped that Duo wouldn't try to get a better look, since even then he wouldn't see anything.  
  
"Oh, sorry. So then, you're a boy?" Duo didn't sound as surprised as he might have, much to the Invisible Prince's delight.  
  
"Yes." He stilled, uncertain what to say next. He'd never had a conversation like this before. He'd never really had any conversations. It all had to do with the fact that people had to see you in order to converse with you, usually.  
  
"What's your name then?" Duo leaned closer, there was a slight smiling curving his lips.  
  
"Uh." How to explain that due to a fairy's curse he'd never actually officially received a name. The Invisible Prince quickly glanced around, searching for something to call himself, anything other than Invisible. Four turtle doves cuddled close together in a branch of the tree above him and he uttered the first thing that came to mind, "Four, my name is Four."  
  
Luckily he hadn't noticed the Partridge in the pear tree just to his left.  
  
"Four? Well, that's an odd name."  
  
"Yes, it's an...old family name." The newly-named 'Four' did his best to give Duo an innocent smile, despite the fact that it wouldn't be seen.  
  
"So, Four, I'm just wondering one thing now,"  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"Yes, why am I here exactly?"  
  
"Well, I've been told that there is an all powerful being that-"  
  
"I meant in the garden with you."  
  
"Ah, well, yes, that." Four fidgeted on the bench before saying softly, "I don't have...that is I've never met anyone my age before. I, usually, I don't get out much."  
  
"Ah, are you here to propose to the princess then? I should warn you, my brother Heero is a pretty strong contender."  
  
Four grinned suddenly, "Believe me I have no interest in the princess."  
  
"Do you live here then, in the castle?"  
  
"Mostly."  
  
"How can you live here mostly?"  
  
"It's a long story."  
  
"Are we running out of time?" Duo smiled in the direction of Four.  
  
"No, I suppose not. You would like to hear it then?"  
  
"Sure."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
And so the Invisible Prince proceeded to try and explain his life in a way that would somehow not give away that he was Invisible and not Four, as he so much wished he could be.  
  
His invisibility he described as "a disease I've had since I was a child. It has disfigured me in such a way that most care not to look upon my countenance."  
  
Duo had made a gentle murmuring sound in the back of his throat in comfort, going as far as to lay a hand on Four's thigh in consolation.  
  
"I haven't had much contact with anyone," the Invisible Prince went on to say. "Most people avoid me, or ignore me as if I'm not even there." Which technically was the truth. "So I've never danced, or gone riding, or swimming, or-"  
  
"Or had a friend?" Duo asked, his eyes glinting in the dark.  
  
"No, no one is willing."  
  
"I will."  
  
"You will?"  
  
"Of course! After all, I'm not the one here to woo the princess; I only accompany my brother. I'll have lots of time in which to do nothing."  
  
"Why does he ask for her hand when he's refused so many others?" Four blurted out before he could think about it.  
  
Duo let out a little laugh, patting Four's leg once again. "Do you promise not to tell anyone else?"  
  
"Of course! That is, who would I tell?"  
  
"He does not much care for the gentler sex. He's always thought of them as rather weak and silly."  
  
"Well, my sister certainly is."  
  
"Your what?"  
  
The Invisible Prince abruptly realized his mistake and tried to back up. "I mean she's like a sister! I was uh, raised so closely to her."  
  
"Despite your disfiguring disease?"  
  
"Oh, uh, yes. The Queen and King are very nice that way."  
  
"I see," though Duo did not sound like he quite believed this story.  
  
"Tell me about your childhood, it must have been great fun to have a brother."  
  
"Not as fun as you seem to think, but yes, it is nice to have a companion." Duo leaned back, finding the trunk of the tree and settling against it comfortably. "He's a tough older brother. We're actually twins, though we don't look it I know. We were born on the same day, he just before I. And ever since he's acted the part."  
  
The Invisible Prince gave a little laugh. "Is he so bad?"  
  
"No, not so bad as that. He merely believes that as the 'eldest' of us he gets to make 'our' decisions."  
  
"Is it true that you will have to choose a wife next?"  
  
"Ha! If he ever picks one himself. Though I do not truly wish to be married at this time. I'm still young, too young to be shackled to a wife and possible child. I think Heero feels much the same way. So he's been refusing all hands and we've traveled from kingdom to kingdom. And though this has entertained us, our parents have been urging him longer and harder with each refusal. They are determined to see him marry soon." Duo sighed deeply and frowned in the darkness. "Though, in my deepest heart I long for him never to marry, so that I won't have to either."  
  
"I think I understand. Soon I shall have to find a wife, though I do not think there is any woman I would want. I would choose freedom before that. Though, I won't have the choice, just as you."  
  
They sighed in unison, silent for a moment as they contemplated their mutual lot in life. Eventually the Invisible Prince fidgeted a bit and then blurted out, "What will you be doing on the morrow?"  
  
"Sleeping most of the day I'd imagine. It's been a long journey here."  
  
"Oh," the Invisible Prince whispered, completely disheartened.  
  
"But,"  
  
"Oh?"  
  
"After that, would you care to do something?"  
  
Four nearly bounced in place with excitement. "Do you mean it? Really? What shall we do? Could we go riding? Or no! Show me to dance! I've always wanted to know how."  
  
Duo chuckled, nodding his head and laughing a little at Four's exuberance. "Dancing it is then, is there a room in the palace where we would have privacy?"  
  
"Yes, I know just the place. It's a small ballroom located in the east wing. I will send you directions to it. What shall we do for music?"  
  
"Hm, now that is a tougher thing to be sure. For we don't want to be seen."  
  
The Invisible Prince had to choke back a snort at the notion of being seen. "If only there were a blind musician to play for us."  
  
Duo suddenly sat up straight as an arrow, his face in the shadows seemingly wounded. "What a silly idea!" he said, his voice a trifle shrill, his features closing in and revealing nothing.  
  
Four felt quite unable to think of a reason for the sudden change, but he couldn't lose this possibility of friendship. "Wait! I think I might know...someone."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The Invisible Prince was unsure if his idea would work. Certainly the blind minstrel was an amiable fellow, and the newly-named Four had known of him most of his life, but they'd never actually met. And so it was with some foreboding that Four snuck through the hallways in search of the man. He knew he was tall, and slim, and his eyes were supposed to be a strange shade of green with a milky veil over them. He figured there couldn't be *that* many people living in the castle fitting that description.  
  
The minstrel was easier to find than Four thought; rather, it was the sound of his flute that gave him away.  
  
The minstrel sat with his back to the Invisible Prince, pouring out a sweet melody that called for all ears listening to tap the feet connected to them, for all bodies to sway in time to it. Unconsciously Four found himself doing both, swaying and tapping, and humming a bit too.  
  
"Ah, I know that voice." The minstrel said suddenly, putting the flute down and turning blind eyes towards the prince. "Is it not the sound of the unseen?"  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"There are few voices I haven't heard, and though I have never heard yours it seems familiar still."  
  
"Then you are right, I am the prince. I have a favor to ask of you as well."  
  
"Well," the minstrel's milky gaze seemed to almost see the Invisible Prince, as it followed his nervous movements. "As you are the prince of this domain, I believe I should follow any order you give. And what is it you ask of me?"  
  
"I need you to play for me tomorrow in the ballroom near the library. Do you know the one?"  
  
"Aye, the small one, close to the East wing. I know it." The blind minstrel cocked his head to one side, a look of curiosity moving across his features. "Why do you need me to play? You have never asked before, and certainly I have been here for as long as you."  
  
The Invisible Prince didn't know quite what to say in response. Truly, the blind minstrel knew he was invisible, so it would not come as either a shock or news. So perhaps the truth, carefully garnered, would be best. "I have met a friend who will teach me to dance. I've never learned before. Somehow he does not know yet that I'm...well, hard to see. I told him that I have a disfiguring disease. So I thought with you..."  
  
"There would be no worries? But what of his seeing – or rather not seeing – you? If you wish to keep it a secret perhaps you should make him blind as well?"  
  
"Oh! I haven't thought of that. You are right, what shall I do?"  
  
"Hm, what have you told him of the reasons he has not see you so far?"  
  
"I've only met him in the atrium under the twisted tree in the dark. He did not seem to see me."  
  
The blind minstrel chuckled. "Of course he did not, as he will never." He paused, and a slow smile crept across his lips. "Might I suggest something?"  
  
"Yes! Of course! Please do."  
  
"Ask him to wear a blindfold. Tell him you would rather not have him run screaming from you as have others in the past."  
  
"But no one has...oh, yes I see. That's an excellent idea."  
  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
  
The ballroom had always been one of Four's favourite rooms. It was small compared to most of the ballrooms in the palace. Only a few hundred people could fit in to it with ease. The ceilings were high and vaulted, and large marble columns circled its inner perimeter. The floor was of a glossy black marble, veins of white zigzagging like glass lightning across it.  
  
The minstrel sat to one side, patiently waiting. As soon as Four entered the ballroom, the minstrel's blind eyes sought him out, the familiar milky veil over them glossy in the sunlight of the room.  
  
"Well Prince, where is your dance partner?"  
  
"Not here yet I suppose. Though I did tell him to arrive a little later than myself. Wearing the blindfold."  
  
"Good, as I am sure your lack of visibility might send him running as easily as a disfiguring disease might."  
  
"Would it really?" the prince asked despondently.  
  
"It might, dear Prince. These things can take some by surprise."  
  
The prince looked uncertainly at the minstrel, feeling qualms about his meeting with Duo that he'd not felt before. There were too many 'what ifs' lying about. What if Duo took off the blindfold and saw...nothing? Would he react as badly if the prince were merely disfigured?  
  
"I have always wondered about something," the prince began.  
  
"Whether I as a blind man would ever be able to see you?" the minstrel asked knowingly. "Yes, I knew you would ask this someday," he continued when the prince looked at him in surprise.  
  
"Will you?"  
  
"No, Prince. Look at me," he gestured towards his veiled eyes. "How could these eyes ever see? For me the world will always be dark. Look for seeing in other eyes."  
  
The prince's shoulders sagged. "I had always hoped..."  
  
"Hope is for those who cannot do. But if you would look for blame, you could put that upon your mother, the Queen."  
  
"No! How can you say that? I would never blame my Mother."  
  
"You should, for it was she that forgot the fairy Dorothy. She that stupidly did not invite the one person she should have been sure to invite."  
  
"Invite where? What are you talking about?"  
  
The minstrel turned towards the prince in surprise. "You do not know your own story?"  
  
"I know that only if a blind man would see me, will I become visible to all." This was something the prince had heard all of his life, the only part of the story he had been told. Now he wondered what had been left out, for surely there could not be more.  
  
"Your mother was so desperate for a male child that she begged the favor from the fairy Dorothy. The fairy Dorothy only asked one thing in return: that she must be invited to all festivities in the palace henceforth. Your mother forgot this when it was of the most importance to remember. On the day of your introduction to the kingdom, the day of your name announcement, the fairy Dorothy was forgotten. And so you too shall forever be forgotten."  
  
The prince was near tears by the end of the minstrel's story. He had always somehow hoped that one day a blind man would see him. That truly the curse could be lifted. Now, suddenly, all hope was gone.  
  
"Remember always, this punishment is not for you, but is for your mother." The minstrel stood straighter, leaning towards the door. "Enough now, Prince. Your new friend is arriving." He paused, his eyes squinting slightly as if it would call his hearing into better focus. "He wears the blindfold as you requested, a true friend he might be."  
  
"A friend, yes." The prince had all but nearly forgotten of such things, his head now swimming with thoughts of blame and curses.  
  
"Hello?" Duo called from the other side of the door. In a softer voice Four could hear him mumble, "I hope this is the right room. How embarrassing if it is not."  
  
"It is!" The prince all of a sudden forgot his fears and worries, rushing to the door and flinging it open to beam at the blindfolded face of his new friend. "It is the right room," the prince said in a calmer tone of voice, grasping his friend's arm and helping him into the room.  
  
"This blindfold makes me feel a bit silly." Duo halted just inside the door and turned his cloth-covered face towards the minstrel. "Hello?"  
  
"You've good hearing," the minstrel responded. "But can you dance in that state?"  
  
"As well as you can play in yours."  
  
The minstrel nodded solemnly, and picking up his flute began to play a lively, mincing waltz.  
  
Duo smiled towards Four and held out his hand, his fingers twitching in an invitation.  
  
"Now what?" Four asked after he'd slipped his hand into Duo's.  
  
"Now, you follow my lead."  
  
It started out slowly, each step given a few minutes of careful examination. Four thought for a while he might never understand the complex bobbing and bowing, and then as if a light full of knowledge from above had shone directly into his head, he understood.  
  
The music and the way their hands clapped together in time with it, all made sense. Each time Duo went slightly down on one leg, and then Four crossed over and offered the other hand, it all fit. Until without being- half aware of it, they were dancing.  
  
After a while Duo stopped, grinning at the Invisible Prince. "Ready for a new one?"  
  
"Oh yes!" The prince nearly bounced with excitement.  
  
"Minstrel – oh Minstrel is too harsh a name for someone who plays so nicely for us, surely you've been called something else?"  
  
"Other names, yes. But would you hear any of them in polite company?"  
  
"There must have been a name you were born with, surely you remember it?"  
  
"Oh, aye, I had a name, though I don't seem to recall it."  
  
Duo turned towards the minstrel and put his hands on his hips, his expression disbelieving. "How can you not recall that name which you were born with? For surely I think, it was not Minstrel. Unless perhaps at birth you played so well?"  
  
To the Invisible Prince's delight the minstrel suddenly laughed out loud. "Do you really want to know it? It seems my memory does recall something of a name."  
  
"Yes!" both Duo and Four exclaimed.  
  
"Very well, if you must know, I do believe the midwife recorded my name as 'To-Right-Out-With-Another-And-How-Will-We-Feed-This-One-You-Son-Of-An-Ever- Loving-Bitch-Just-Call-Him-No-Name-If-We-Must-Call-Him-Something.'"  
  
Four's mouth dropped open.  
  
Duo briefly echoed the expression and then laughed, nodding his head. "All right then, Minstrel it is."  
  
"It always was the better name," the Minstrel agreed soberly.  
  
~~~~  
  
When the sun was setting and the small ballroom grew dim, they finally stopped dancing. They'd removed their doublets hours beforehand and now both wore merely their britches and shirts. Four was panting a little from the exertion, the last dance having been one of a fast pace and tune. Duo had sat down in the middle of the floor, panting due to laughter at the fiftieth time that the Invisible Prince had managed to tread on his toes. "You'd think you were the one with the blindfold," he chortled out, ruefully rubbing his foot in between fits of laughter.  
  
The Minstrel had paused, pouring himself a much-deserved glass of wine from a small table nearby. Four marveled at how he didn't spill a drop and seemed to know just when to stop pouring.  
  
"Swimming!" Four said suddenly, the sound of the wine gurgling in the glass a reminder of another thing he'd wanted to learn.  
  
"Blindfolded?" Duo asked incredulously.  
  
"You've danced all day that way and you question the logic behind the request? Tsk, tsk." The Minstrel grinned.  
  
"Swimming it is then, though where?" Duo acceded with a bow in the Minstrel's direction.  
  
"Why not go at night in the Atrium? I'm sure the pond would suit your needs."  
  
"Minstrel, if I did not know better I would say your aim is to help."  
  
"Know better then, my aim is merely to guide."  
  
"Then it's all settled," Four announced happily. "We will meet in the Atrium when it is dark, though you still must wear the blindfold."  
  
"Of course, as I would no doubt go running if I saw you?" Duo responded in the monotone of one who has heard the same thing once too often.  
  
"Yes!" The Minstrel and Four shouted at the same time. Four glanced at the Minstrel in surprise and then smiled when he saw the nod in his direction.  
  
"Yes, you would surely run if you were to see the travesty that my body and skin has become," Four went on in a more serious tone of voice. "I would not lose you as I have others."  
  
Duo seemed to take this to heart, his smile fading. "I think even if I were to see you, I would not run from someone with as lovely a heart and soul."  
  
"Oh, this flattery is making me ill!" the Minstrel exclaimed, and then picking up his flute began a slow dirge which made them laugh.  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
The Invisible Prince sat on the bench beneath the twisted tree in the Atrium and waited. He'd been thinking a lot on what the Minstrel had told him about his mother and the fairy Dorothy. He'd always been aware of the curse upon him, there was no way to be unaware of it, considering he wasn't visible and never had been. Though, with his new perspective upon the happenings before his birth and after, he wondered anew.  
  
"Deep thought is bad for the heart," Duo's voice said from beside him.  
  
"You're so quiet. And how do you know what I think?"  
  
"I can tell," Duo sat down beside the prince and patted around until he found a hand. He held the hand for a moment before going on. "The silence is darker when one is deep in their own head. But now is not the time for deep thoughts, now is the time to learn something new, eh?"  
  
"Yes!" the prince exclaimed, laughing with delight. "So tell me how this must go, for as you know I've never been swimming."  
  
"Then follow my lead." With that Duo stood up and began removing his clothing, all except for the blindfold. "Now you, and then we shall slowly immerse ourselves."  
  
Four followed suit, wondering if he looked at all like Duo did, naked in the darkness, with nothing but a pale moon and faraway stars for lighting. Duo looked like a petit god, with his long slim limbs, lean muscles, and alabaster skin that fairly glowed. Four hoped he looked half as stunning when visible...if visible...if ever.  
  
"No deep thoughts!" Duo shouted, and then chuckled at the muffled gasp. "Now come," he held out his hand. "And do not let go of my hand until you feel safe."  
  
The Invisible Prince nodded and then realized a nod probably couldn't even be heard and said aloud, "yes, of course." His fingers seemed to send a shock down his spine when they met Duo's. As it had been when they'd danced he kept feeling frissons of nearly painful intensity where there hands touched.  
  
They walked to the edge of the pond together, hand in hand, and slowly began stepping in, tiny step by tiny step. The water was chill from the night and most likely from its source of the underground spring that fed it. Four shivered and clutched Duo's hand tighter. Suddenly he felt his footing get lost amongst the little rocks and sandy bottom and his balance left him all in one go. With a resounding splash he landed bottom first in the muck at the edge of the pond, Duo's hand still held within his own.  
  
Duo began laughing, and reached down to help Four up, when he stopped, his hands sliding from the smooth shoulders he held, down the perfection of Four's biceps, triceps, and wrists. His expression moved quickly across his face, one moment it was surprise and then swiftly it moved in to a hurt anger. "This is not the body of one who is scarred." His voice held a high note of confusion. His fingers traced the smooth, silky line of Four's jaw, moving upward to sweep across brow and hair. "You've lied to me."  
  
"Yes," the Invisible Prince said forlornly. "I've lied to you."  
  
"But why? Surely you have a reason not to be seen? It cannot be merely for a laugh can it?"  
  
"I cannot say."  
  
"Well you must say! You did not lie merely to laugh at me? Perhaps you know more than I thought, perhaps this is just a great joke at my expense?" Duo had already released the prince and began splashing the short distance back to shore. Stiffly he began putting on his clothes, the lines of his back tense. "If I chose to have jokes at my expense, I would go home, where they know many more than you."  
  
"No! Oh please don't, please. I did not mean to lie, it was not a joke I swear." Four's voice was shrill with emotion, as already he seemed to be losing the only friend he'd ever had. All because he was afraid of the reaction to his lack of visibility, it was a twisted weaving inside his head now, a worming confusion of thought. "No, please, Duo."  
  
"Then tell me the truth, why don't you want to be seen?" Duo still had not removed the blindfold, his mouth turned down into a twisted frown.  
  
"Will you promise not to-"  
  
"Run screaming?" Duo asked bitterly. "Yes, of course."  
  
Four slowly walked towards the shore, achingly aware that at any moment things could be much worse. He reached Duo and slowly slid the blindfold up and off, his fingers trembling. He'd closed his eyes, unwilling to see the blank expression, the confused look. "See?"  
  
The sharp bark of laughter from Duo caught the prince off guard and he opened his eyes, glancing swiftly at Duo. "What?"  
  
"You're perfect and you hide that perfection? How dare you pull such a stunt!"  
  
"Wha-" the prince began.  
  
"Of course I should've known this was merely all an elaborate joke. Who told you? Who told you I was blind?"  
  
Suddenly Duo was shaking the prince, fingers digging in, and anger stretching his features into grim lines. "Tell me who you are! Tell me the truth!"  
  
"The Invisible Prince."  
  
Now it was Duo's turned to look stunned, his hands dropping to his sides as quickly as they'd come up to shake the prince. "What? But then, that would mean..."  
  
"I told you, I have no interest in the princess."  
  
"Yes, so you did, and it all falls in place now, like puzzle pieces on a board." Duo sat down heavily on the nearby bench, and sighed. "Yes, it all makes sense. I'm sorry for my reaction."  
  
"I'm sorry to have deceived you, Duo." The prince sat down as well, wondering about Duo's exclamation of blindness. But from his earlier conversation that day with the Minstrel he knew it should give him no hope. "Are you really...blind?"  
  
"Yes." Duo turned towards him, fingers inching along the bench until they found the prince's fingers and grasped them tightly. "And you're really... invisible?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"How strange then that a blind man would meet an invisible one."  
  
"Tell me something, to you, I seem as if I'm here, yes? As if there is nothing missing?"  
  
Duo nodded, smiling slightly. "Yes, you're all here, and solid and real. It must be a novel experience."  
  
"It is, I feel so...seen with you."  
  
"You are."  
  
"Duo?"  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"Can we...can we go swimming now?"  
  
"You really don't know how?"  
  
"No, everyone was afraid to try. After all, how would they see me?"  
  
"Fools, cannot they sense you? I can smell you're very presence in a room of people."  
  
"Oh, Sorry, they still douse me with perfume occasionally in the bath."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Never mind," the prince said with a smile. "Just teach me to swim."  
  
~~~~~~~  
  
The Invisible Prince was having too much fun, he was sure of it. At any moment now something had to come and ruin it all, and yet, nothing did. He lay on his back in the middle of the pond, and it seemed as if he were covered in stars and floating in the sky. The moon was reflected just to his right, looking hugely fat in the darkness of the pond. For some reason in the sky it looked much smaller and further away, but in the pond he could touch it, make it waver and wiggle in the water with just the poke of a finger.  
  
He idly kicked a leg to keep himself afloat and wondered where Duo had gone. "Ahh!" Suddenly his leg was clamped in a tight grip, something pulling him under water. He sucked in a breath to yell again, and found his mouth filled with pond water. He gurgled another yell, and found a pair of hands sliding up his legs, Duo hauling him back to the surface.  
  
The prince panted to regain his breath, and then yelled again, dragging Duo beneath the water and squirming around until he could reach one of Duo's ankles. He wasn't sure what he was thinking exactly, just perhaps to regain some revenge. His foot touched bottom and he used the leverage to shoot upwards with Duo's ankle still firmly within his grasp, laughing at the protesting wiggles. His laughter cut off as Duo pushed against the bottom and suddenly the prince found himself beneath the water. He could hear the hollow sound of Duo's laughter above the water and wanted to laugh himself at the game.  
  
Pushing off the bottom he felt Duo let go of his ankle and popped up beside the other boy, gasping with lack of air and mirth. "Fiend!"  
  
"Ha!" Duo grinned and moved menacingly closer through the water.  
  
"Stay back or I'll..."  
  
"You'll what?  
  
"Um," the prince glanced around wondering exactly what he would do if Duo grabbed him again. "I'll kiss you!"  
  
"Eww, not a kiss from The Invisible Prince. I've heard it turns people into frogs!"  
  
"It's true! It does!" The Invisible Prince giggled, slowly slipping further away through the water in the hope of an escape.  
  
"Well then," Duo suddenly lurched forward, an arrow through the water. His hands clutched at whatever purchase on the prince he could find and he hauled him forward. "Frogs are better in water, right?"  
  
"No!" the prince started to yell, and quite suddenly stopped, his mouth having become occupied. It seems trite to say the prince had never been kissed before. But however trite it sounds, it was the truth, he hadn't been. Most of the time it was because people, being unable to see him, were afraid of where their kisses might land. Duo it seemed didn't have any such fear, as well he need not, his mouth was right on target.  
  
The prince found he liked being kissed, which worried him, since it was from another prince. Surely he shouldn't enjoy kissing a prince, there should be a princess involved somewhere, the line had to go on. His mother had always told him so, when she could find him.  
  
Duo pulled back, the pale moon lighting his rapt features. "Too much thought at the wrong time can burn out the insides of your head you know."  
  
The Invisible Prince decided kissing another prince couldn't be that bad a thing, and did it again. This time it was even better. Duo's mouth felt just right, warm and gentle, it moved and opened, his tongue sliding into the bemused Prince's mouth, leaving a hot, aching trail. Without being aware of it the Invisible Prince wrapped his arms firmly around Duo's wet shoulders, tilting his head and arching his back.  
  
Not too many natural kissers are born in a lifetime, it should be noted that there are two of them in this story. Duo may have had some practice, but the skill of the Invisible Prince was outlandishly good. He picked up the little trick of breathing through his nose in a matter of moments, followed by noticing that if he melted against Duo he could get even closer, even deeper.  
  
Thought tried to intrude, it battered at the Invisible Prince's mind with a ram made of steel, it had a point to get across and it was going to do it. The Invisible Prince gasped and pulled back, a veritable mountain of "oh no" and "what if" perched on his tongue.  
  
"So, you have a lot of sisters?"  
  
The Invisible Prince started in surprise, the question completely unexpected. "Y-yes."  
  
"Have you ever heard that a line can be carried on with just a princess?"  
  
"Um," the Invisible Prince was dumfounded.  
  
"I'm just wondering, if your parents would mind if I ..."  
  
"If you...what?"  
  
'Well, you're not a princess, and I'm not a princess..." Duo pulled the prince closer and accented his point with his point. "So, there might be a problem."  
  
"A problem?" the Invisible Prince asked hazily, distracted by the soft brushing motion of Duo's hands across his bare skin, and the ...point. Which was quite an interesting point, full of warmth and a density that the prince could practically sense. "Was there a problem?" the prince whispered with some confusion, finding it hard to focus on his words.  
  
"My point," and Duo once again accented his words with his point, "is that though I have a brother, you have none."  
  
"Remind me of why that should make sense to me?' the prince asked, his own hands creeping down Duo's sides and flanks, determined to find out what the point was.  
  
"I imagine your mother is as bad as my own, though I have a brother to carry on the line you have only sisters." Duo panted for a moment as the prince's questing hands found an interesting place to be. "So I'm sure that your parents are quite keen on you finding a WIFE?!" Duo's voice hit a shrill note as the prince suddenly found the point.  
  
"Ah." The prince spent a moment with the point before carefully saying, "what do they care for what they can't remember? Maybe one day they will wonder where I am, when they find a woman willing to marry an invisible man, but by then they will search forever and never find me."  
  
"Oh!" Duo in turn got the point, and firmly gave it a good rub. "Yes, I can see that what you say is true."  
  
"My Mother can always wish for a boy again," the prince said bitterly, and then he smiled as Duo emitted another gasp of pleasure. "If the fairy Dorothy will tell her the time of day that is."  
  
"Midnight, why do you ask?" said a completely new voice.  
  
Both boys jerked apart, each pretending that a mere second beforehand they hadn't been ready to have the first orgasmic experience of their young lives.  
  
The fairy Dorothy grinned from her seat on the edge of the pond and gave a little wave of her fingers. "Hello. I imagine you wonder what I'm doing here, and - why oh why - would I interrupt right at this very moment?"  
  
The boys nodded, the Invisible Prince vainly trying to hide behind Duo despite the fact that he was, as has been mentioned numerous times, invisible.  
  
"It's times like these I really do enjoy my work," the fairy said brightly.  
  
"Dorothy!" a new voice yelled from across the distance of the pond.  
  
Everyone turned to eye the newcomer with surprise. She was a small girl, with the same indeterminable look of non-age as the fairy Dorothy. Also, she had some wings. Small, bat-like, translucent pink wings. They just screamed 'I'm a fairy!' to anyone who would listen. "Don't even think this is your work, Dorothy."  
  
"Relena, why, it's been years." The fairy Dorothy looked somewhat taken aback, standing up uncertainly and apparently trying to look innocent. "What work, where? Would *I* do a thing like that?"  
  
"You would and you did! I've been setting this one up for years. How many people," and here she gestured towards the huddled figures of Duo and the Invisible Prince, "could get together a blind man and an invisible one? Hm? Me! That's who!" The fairy Relena positively shook with rage.  
  
"My dear, Relena, I set this one up. As can be seen by merely witnessing the fact that *I* am the one who cursed that prince into invisibility," the fairy Dorothy growled calmly, pointing imperiously at the Invisible Prince in question, as if she could see him and knew exactly where he was. Which she could and she did.  
  
"Yes, well, *I* my dear, Dorothy, was the one who cursed him," and here Relena pointed at Duo, "to be blind! So there!"  
  
Both fairies' mouths dropped open as they in turn stared at one another and then towards the boys in the pond.  
  
"You did-"  
  
"But I thought-"  
  
"Really, cannot you two nymph-heads tell when someone else is at play?" yet another new voice asked.  
  
"You!" yelled the fairy Dorothy.  
  
"You!" shouted the fairy Relena.  
  
"Well of course, and now you see if this was anyone's work it was mine. For who else could make such boys fall in love?"  
  
The Invisible Prince couldn't take his shocked eyes off the three figures. He recognized the new man as the Minstrel, though certainly he had never seen the Minstrel such as he was now. His hair seemed to wave as if it were floating upwards and imitating sea grass on the ocean floor. His eyes, which always before had been milky coloured and faint, were now a glowing green. Oh, and he too had some wings on, these were -of course - a dead giveaway to his fairy status.  
  
"Listen here, Too-Right-Out-With-Another, I knew you back when you were a mere human and didn't even know what a wand was *or* how to use it!" the fairy Relena screamed with rage.  
  
"Four," Duo whispered, leaning back into the small figure that was still trying to hide behind him.  
  
"Yes?"  
  
"I can see..."  
  
"What?"  
  
"No, I mean, I can see them. There's three of them, and I can see them."  
  
The Invisible Prince slowly, as if it might disappear, raised his hand to his eyes. It was a nice hand, pale, delicate, though the nails were a bit on the long side.  
  
There was a splash from behind Duo. The fairies stopped arguing, and with amused smiles watched as the Invisible Prince, now completely visible to everyone, fainted dead away.  
  
~~~~~  
  
A few years passed, as they'll do when they're of a mind for it. The princess Amandandia married a prince, who was not Heero, but was in fact someone completely different. The kingdom celebrated the marriage of their only prince, now finally given a name due to his new visibility. They'd named him Quatre, which strangely enough had been the name he'd been given on the day of his announcement. It was an old family name.  
  
And so the story ends, with this last vision of the twisted tree in the Atrium beside the pond. There's a bench there, it is stone and cold, and there's a veritable bombardment of bird poop on one side of it as if the birds were taking target practice. There's no one sitting there, hasn't been for a year or two.  
  
............  
  
High in one of the windows of the palace there is a light on, and if you sneak up close you can hear the sounds of a really angry prince shouting his head off. Inside the room, is a tirading, naked, blond bombshell of a boy. He looks a little on the chubby side, though his features are pale and beautiful in the candlelight, and his skin seems as smooth and velvety as that of a babe.  
  
"How could you!" he yells, and his wide aqua eyes hold a terrible anger. He picks up a small vase on the nearby dresser and clutches it tightly in one hand. "Of all the- how could you?! And me? Why me!" He throws the vase to the floor and stomps somewhat heavily over to the bed where a figure is lying nude. This figure, strangely, looks very satisfied with itself.  
  
"And you said I was just getting fat from eating so many sweets! You said I was craving crispy-fried frog legs because I liked French food!"  
  
The figure on the bed, despite itself, and rather stupidly, grins. "She said we only have to invite her to the parties."  
  
Quatre – formerly known as the Invisible Prince – flops down on to the edge of the bed, his shoulders slumping in a helpless defeat. "It will please my parents..."  
  
"And you don't look bad with the weight," Duo adds, pulling the prince backwards into an awkward embrace. He rather carefully avoids putting any weight on the round protuberance of the prince's expanded waistline.  
  
"I'm going to kill you," Quatre says firmly, turning around and giving his prince a kiss. "Right after I make use of you," he adds with a feral little grin.  
  
"Let's just make sure the midwife gets the name right, okay dear? I would hate for our child to be called You-Bastard-How-Could-You-Do-This-To-Me!"  
  
Quatre counts on his fingers for a moment and then smiles. "I was thinking Trowa might be nice."  
  
Duo grins and then says in a worried voice, "you *will* invite *her*, right?"  
  
"The invitation will be in the mail tomorrow."  
  
And so the story really does end, for now, at this moment. Soon the light blinks out and only the sound of pleased and muffled moans and sighs can be heard on the breeze.  
  
Though, meanwhile, in a castle not far away, in kingdom right next-door to this one, there's three people sitting around a table and getting steadily drunk.  
  
"I was thinking about China," one of them says and then hiccups.  
  
"For what?"  
  
"They've still got dragons," the fairy with the pink wings slurs.  
  
"There's a prince there. Named, Wufei, or some such thing, I've heard he won't marry any of the princesses." This fairy has glowing green eyes and a smirk.  
  
"What's that got to do with dragons?" the one with the pink wings manages to say before passing out on the tabletop.  
  
"You know-"begins the fairy with the long blond hair, okay, so she's the fairy Dorothy.  
  
"It would be interesting-" the fairy Too-Right-Out-With-Another begins to say.  
  
"Oh! Let's just curse 'em all!" the fairy Relena says, and then passes out again.  
  
The End  
  
No, Really  
  
The End 


End file.
